The 1 Thing Needed to Engage your Customers

While cheering their team to a lopsided victory over another of the league’s elite teams, the fans at the Seattle Seahawks game generated 137.6 decibels of pure, unadulterated crowd noise. The stadium shook – literally shook – with noise.

137.6 decibels. That sounds like a lot.

For reference:

90dB: sustained exposure = permanent damage

125dB: pain begins

140dB: short exposure = permanent damage

194dB: the loudest sound possible.

137.6 is a lot.

OK, so we can comfortably say it is scientifically loud. But how loud is it really?

While cheering on their team – and simultaneously setting a Guiness World Record with their cacophony, by the way – the fans also accidentally caused an earthquake.

An earthquake.

A seismometer at nearby University of Washington registered between 1 and 2 on the Richter scale.

Now, if you want to be technical, the United States Geological Survey refers to readings of 2 and below as micro-earthquakes since they are not commonly felt by people. But still…..an earthquake.

So what’s the point?

The point is this:

Any corporate brand can gush over the loyalty of its customers.

Any sports team will rave about having the best fans in the world.

But according to the Guiness Book only the Seattle Seahawks can definitively claim to have the loudest fans. Add that to the effect the extreme stadium noise has on their opponents, and Seattle can make a pretty solid argument for having “The Best” fans.

The trajectories follow parallel paths.

Seattle’s fans weren’t always this vocal.

And the Seahawks weren’t always one of the league’s elite teams.

The Seahawks focused on improving their customer service by fielding an exciting and successful team.

The fans focused on improving their brand loyalty by selling out the home games and screaming until they were hoarse.

And as the fans got louder:

The Seahawks won more consistently

Revenues went up

Resources for better players went up

Number of wins went up

Seats sold went up

Crowd noise went up

Beer sales went up

Revenues went up.

A virtuous success cycle.

WestJet rode that same success cycle…

…with their Christmas Miracle promotion.

In case you missed it, a Westjet Santa asked outgoing passengers in Toronto what they wanted for Christmas. By the time the travellers got to Calgary they were greeted with individually wrapped and tagged presents on the luggage carousel.